Blog

San Francisco Announces Plans to Wipe out Marijuana Convictions

San Francisco’s repository of drug offense records is about to get considerably smaller.

According to a recent report in the Los Angeles Times, San Francisco is planning to eradicate thousands of marijuana convictions from the public ledger. The city recently legalized the sale and usage of marijuana, with retailers starting to sell recreational pot at the beginning of January. Now, the city has decided to apply the new legalization laws to retroactively.

The announcement came from the San Francisco District Attorney’s office on Wednesday, January 31. A sweeping act of criminal record expungement, the move could clear marijuana records dating back to 1975. Thousands of people convicted of the cultivation, purchase, or possession of marijuana in the past four-plus decades will no longer have criminal records.

San Francisco’s pot legalization act, Proposition 64, allows individuals in the city to grow six or fewer marijuana plants “for personal use.” Prop 64 also makes it legal to buy or possess up to one ounce of marijuana.

Since Proposition 64 passed, the DA’s office has received almost 5,000 petitions from weed offenders seeking expungement. In addition to decriminalizing many drug offenses related to marijuana, Prop 64 also opened the door for people previously convicted of those offenses to petition for expungement. Marijuana offenses more severe than those covered by Prop 64, meanwhile, were often eligible to be reduced from felony to misdemeanor status. For instance, if someone was convicted of a felony for possession of more than an ounce of marijuana, they could petition to have that conviction reduced.

However, District Attorney George Gascón said that many people are unaware of expungement or how the process works. As a result, he said his department would be “taking action for the community” rather than waiting for ex-offenders to petition for expungement themselves.

To honor the promise, the DA’s office is opening some 5,000 case files for marijuana convictions. Those convictions will be reviewed and recalled wherever Proposition 64 decriminalized the offense in question. In other cases, the offenses will be recategorized and resentenced to less severe convictions. The L.A. Times piece said that more than 3,000 misdemeanor marijuana offenses from before Proposition 64 would be expunged or sealed.

Gascón said that the move would help former drug offenders move on with their lives without criminal convictions hanging over their heads. He added that marijuana offenses, while typically seen as minor in the world of crime, can still be barriers to employment and housing for many offenders. By expunging those records, the City of San Francisco will effectively be eliminating those obstacles. Gascón expects the move will help communities of color in particular.

Expunged or sealed records are typically not shown on background checks. As a result, once the San Francisco DA’s office has finished dismissing marijuana offenses, those crimes will no longer show on background checks for employment, housing, credit, or other purposes. If someone were to use backgroundchecks.com to run a San Francisco county criminal check on a former misdemeanor marijuana offender, that person’s drug charge would not be a part of the report we would compile.

Tag Cloud

Categories

Recent Posts

Latest News

Many hiring decisions are based mostly on candidates’ past work experiences. Here’s how a background check can verify employers to make sure those hiring decisions are grounded in fact.

February 14
—
As more states legalize various forms of marijuana, past marijuana convictions are still causing concern while uncertainty over substances such as CBD drives new arrests.

February 12
—
A new bill in the New York State legislature could add new requirements for school employee background checks. Currently, private schools are not required to follow state mandates regarding background checks.

February 07
—
Some parents in El Paso, Texas have been left wondering about the strength of their city's youth sports procedures after a felon fraudulently took funds for a girls' soccer team.

February 06
—
If there is one way that volunteer organizations could serve their communities better, it’s implementing more thorough volunteer screening policies.

February 05
—
Madison County, Illinois has created a new initiative designed to help individuals overcome barriers to employment. Clients of the initiative will be able to explore criminal record expungement among other options.

February 01
—
An OfficeTeam survey found that the two most common forms of resume dishonesty had to do with past employers: job experience and job duties or responsibilities.

January 31
—
During the longest government shutdown in U.S. history, hundreds of thousands of federal employees have gone without work for more than a month. Some are finding temporary alternatives elsewhere.

January 29
—
A Florida nurse has been arrested for allegedly stealing two types of prescription pain medications from the county jail where she worked. The case highlights the importance of rigorous drug testing procedures for employment situations in which employees have access to prescription drugs.

January 24
—
After the airline failed to adequately disclose to applicants that they would undergo a background check, a court has ruled Delta did not meet its legislative obligations. The settlement highlights the importance of rigorous compliance.